Bank of New York Mellon Corp Reduces Stake in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp cut its position in shares of BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Free Report) by 0.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,093,293 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 9,350 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned about 0.70% of BlackRock worth $1,034,781,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 23.1% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,575 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $1,615,000 after acquiring an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 138,682.5% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 634,236 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $634,000 after acquiring an additional 633,779 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 52,463 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $53,780,000 after acquiring an additional 513 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 16.3% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 19,958 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $20,460,000 after acquiring an additional 2,801 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BlackRock by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 6,949 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $7,124,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. 80.69% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BlackRock Trading Up 0.5%

NYSE BLK traded up $5.71 on Friday, reaching $1,076.28. 342,684 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 696,095. The business's fifty day moving average price is $979.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $969.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $166.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a current ratio of 4.34, a quick ratio of 4.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. BlackRock has a fifty-two week low of $773.74 and a fifty-two week high of $1,084.22.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 11th. The asset manager reported $11.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $10.84 by $0.46. The company had revenue of $5.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.47 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 15.57% and a net margin of 30.09%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $9.81 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that BlackRock will post 47.41 earnings per share for the current year.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 5th were paid a $5.21 dividend. This represents a $20.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 5th. BlackRock's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.63%.

Insider Activity at BlackRock

In other news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 10,000 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $912.50, for a total value of $9,125,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 66,034 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $60,256,025. The trade was a 13.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.98% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on BLK shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,111.00 to $1,164.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Argus raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,028.00 to $1,090.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 17th. Wall Street Zen raised BlackRock to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Barclays raised their price objective on BlackRock from $950.00 to $990.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on BlackRock from $1,046.00 to $988.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BlackRock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $1,110.92.

About BlackRock

BlackRock, Inc is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm primarily provides its services to institutional, intermediary, and individual investors including corporate, public, union, and industry pension plans, insurance companies, third-party mutual funds, endowments, public institutions, governments, foundations, charities, sovereign wealth funds, corporations, official institutions, and banks.